[2] We passed also two fine bridges,
one of three, and one of four arches, both over what were once
streams, but are now dry beds of sand.[3] The whole road shows signs
of having been once thickly peopled, and highly adorned with useful
and ornamental works when Delhi was in its glory.
Every handsome mausoleum among Muhammadans was provided with its
mosque, and endowed by the founder with the means of maintaining men
of learning to read their Koran over the grave of the deceased and in
his chapel; and, as long as the endowment lasted, the tomb continued
to be at the same time a college. They read the Koran morning and
evening over the grave, and prayers in the chapel at the stated
periods; and the rest of their time is commonly devoted to the
instruction of the youths of their neighbourhood, either gratis or
for a small consideration. Apartments in the tomb were usually set
aside for the purpose, and these tombs did ten times more for
education in Hindustan than all the colleges formed especially for
the purpose.[4] We might suppose that rulers who formed and endowed
such works all over the land must have had more of the respect and
the affections of the great mass of the people than we, who, as my
friend upon the Jumna has it, 'build nothing but private dwelling-
houses, factories, courts of justice, and jails', can ever have; but
this conclusion would not be altogether just.
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